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Sports Buzz: Dolphins' young cornerbacks emerging

datruth55

datruth55

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The Dolphins, not so long ago, had a promising pair of young cornerbacks, Vontae Davis and Sean Smith, but regrettably and somewhat inexplicably parted ways with both.

Rookie Xavien Howard and second-year pro Tony Lippett have a long way to go before they can be considered on the level of Davis and Smith.

But Howard and Lippett at least have a chance to become what the Dolphins once thought they had in Davis and Smith, and once hoped they would have with second-day draft picks Jamar Taylor and Will Davis but ultimately did not - a pair of young, building-block corners.

Howard and Lippett had some of their finest moments in Saturday's Jets game. Lippett picked off two passes, made at least three nifty plays in coverage and didn't allow a single catch on 55 snaps of coverage.

Howard allowed just three catches on 10 targets and "absolutely played as well as I've ever seen him play since he has been with us," coach Adam Gase said.

After missing nine games after knee surgery, the Dolphins expected Howard to play fewer than 20 snaps on Saturday. But when Byron Maxwell left with an ankle injury, Howard was pressed into playing 68 of Miami's 76 defensive plays.

"It seems like he didn't miss a beat," Lippett said of Howard.

Privately, the Dolphins believe Howard can be a legitimate No. 1 corner, a player with Pro Bowl potential.

"He was born to be a corner," Maxwell has said of Howard. "He's just athletic. It's a natural gift."

Lippett, meanwhile, is now tied for sixth in the NFL with four interceptions, and only three cornerbacks have more than that - San Diego's Casey Hayward (seven), Buffalo's Stephen Gilmore (five) and Kansas City's Marcus Peters (five).

What's more, he's the first Dolphins cornerback since 1999 to have two games with two picks in the same season.

"He's leaps and bounds better" than during the summer, Maxwell said. "You can see the game starting to slow down for him. Him having that offensive background is definitely helping him."

Speaking with two reporters on Sunday, Lippett revealed that he "didn't want to be a cornerback" when the Dolphins drafted him in the fifth round in 2015. He played mostly receiver at Michigan State, though he played cornerback as a freshman and some cornerback as a senior.

But after the Dolphins drafted him, Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum and then-general manager Dennis Hickey told him they were moving him to cornerback.

"They said, 'You got a long body and you've played cornerback and we are going to coach you playing cornerback,'" Lippett recalled. "I wanted to be a wide receiver. But I wasn't going to say no. I kind of like challenges."

But the transition wasn't wasy, and Lippett said "a few times, during my rookie year, in OTAs, and a little bit in the season, I thought I don't like it. But I said you've got to grind and deal with it. Then I thought, this is where I'm going to be."

Lippett was especially proud of his first interception Saturday, when he grabbed the ball away from Jets receiver Robby Anderson.

"Anderson was getting a lot of buzz around New York," Lippett said. "I told myself if I get a chance to do that again, I've got to come down with the ball."

Lippett also did good work covering Brandon Marshall.

I was over Marshall a lot," Lippett said. "To me, he's a Hall of Fame player. Knows how to use his body. I was trying to stay in front of him, be physical with him, compete and battle. He wasn't saying to much to me. I thought he would try to get in my head, which he wasn't going to do anyway."

Lippett said he has been working to improve on covering slants - a play that Baltimore and others have victimized him - and said defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has helped mold him into a much improved player.

"He helped me understand the defense more," Lippett said. "He helped me understand where I need to be. He helped me understand where my help is. He helped me understand leverage, that's the main thing. The more he harps on it, the more I see it."

Gase admires Lippett's diligence: "He's done a great job as far as staying with what he's being coached to do. He's fought through little adversities. He had some rough games and he's had a couple of times where people want him out of there, outside our building, and kind of given up on the fact that he was a wide receiver that went to the other side of the ball.

"He stuck with it. He practiced hard. He practices hard every day and he tries to get better and then every week he's gotten a little bit better. This last game was a good indication of why we like him. His ball skills are unique for a corner, and when he gets his hands on the ball, he usually brings it down."

JENKINS SLOWED

Why didn't linebacker Jelani Jenkins play at all in the second half against the Jets after playing 22 snaps in the first half?

Jenkins said because of his lingering knee injury, "it was difficult to slow down. I talked to [linebackers coach] Matt Burke and told him it was difficult to decelerate. The decision was made that I would only be used as needed in the second half."

Does he regret playing?

"In hindsight, I could have made it worse but I'm glad I didn't. I didn't re-aggravate it."
Click to expand...
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article121808708.html
 
I think Lippett and Howard both surpassed Smith along time ago.
 
There is a lot of promise with both of these guys! Xavian when healthy looks like the real deal.
 
Perfect23 said:
I think Lippett and Howard both surpassed Smith along time ago.
Click to expand...

Considering Smith only had 5 interceptions in 4 seasons with the Dolphins and has never had more than 2 INTs in any season so far...yeah, I was never a Sean Smith fan.
 
At first I thought CB was a glaring weakness, but now I'm pretty happy with the position. We could be better at the position, but LB has become the clear #1 weakness on the team to me.
 
I still remember Sean Smith throwing himself on the ground, to avoid a head-on collision with a big RB, and the RB just stepped over Sean Smith like he wasn't there.
 
datruth55 said:
Considering Smith only had 5 interceptions in 4 seasons with the Dolphins and has never had more than 2 INTs in any season so far...yeah, I was never a Sean Smith fan.
Click to expand...

Sean Smith's biggest play as a Dolphins was in a preseason game...one-handed end-zone INT against the Saints. After that, not much to speak of.

Seems he went on to do reasonably well for KC.
 
glad to see Lippett improving on slants which he got beaten badly by the ravens on.

Xavien Howard was a great pick in the draft as i stated day 1 i was very excited for that pick
 
Honestly thought Howard was just a cover 3 corner, but he looks like the real deal. I trust him on an island and can't believe I'm saying that about a rookie who hasn't played a full year.
 
You don't suppose Gase is doing a Belichick???

Interesting part at the end of the article:

Reilly has played in 29 career games, all with the New York Jets (2014-15). He has career totals of 11 tackles (five solo), one sack, one quarterback hit and one forced fumble. Reilly also has 20 special teams stops (14 solo). He spent the past nine weeks on New England's practice squad.
Click to expand...

Is he that good a special teams player? Hmmm.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/s...y-jackson/article121808708.html#storylink=cpy
 
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